Senior Center parking plan praised

Thursday

Feb 2, 2017 at 10:14 AMFeb 2, 2017 at 10:14 AM

Ignacio Laguarda ilaguarda@wickedlocal.com @ilaguarda

Waltham’s senior center gets calls practically every day about the lack of parking on site, according to the director, so a plan to more than double the amount of spots has many in the community excited.

Currently, there are roughly 40 parking spots at the William F. Stanley Senior Center, located at 488 Main St., and director Marybeth Duffy said one of the most common complaints she hears is people telling her they had to turn around and head home because they couldn’t find parking on the site.

On Monday, Jan. 30, residents spoke in favor of a plan to add somewhere between 60 and 75 news spots during a public meeting.

Last summer, the Waltham City Council voted to spend $1 million on buying the parcel at 476-486 Main St., one of three adjacent parcels the city is hoping to turn into parking. Previously, the city purchased the property at 9 Newton St. in December of 2014.

Duffy said she’d be happy to have any extra parking at the center.

“It’s a big issue,” she said. “I am incredibly grateful that the mayor and the city councilors heard this need and purchased these lots.”

The final number of new parking spots will depend on whether or nor a small park or open space is created on the recently acquired land.

Waltham City Councilor Gary Marchese is in favor of creating an outdoor space for seniors to use, as is former councilor Sally Collura, who first approached Marchese about buying the land next to the senior center. Marchese, who led the meeting on Monday, originally introduced the resolutions to the city council to buy the lots next to the senior center, which would be the location of the future parking lot.

Collura, who affectionately calls the parking lot plan her “baby,” first noticed the land in 2011 when a “for sale” sign went up on the property, which used to house Stephen’s Liquors.

While the parcel at 9 Newton St. was a vacant lot, the parcel on the corner of Main Street and Newton Street has a 1.5 story building on it, which has been used for automobile services, and used to be a gas station.

“Having parking right there is absolutely necessary for all of us,” said Collura.

She said she is very much in favor of creating a small park, or open space on the land, while still more than doubling the existing amount of parking spaces.

“It’s going to be a gem,” she said.

The cost of turning the lots into parking, which will include bulldozing the building on the corner of Main and Newton streets, is still unclear.

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